Is it a wise idea to organise a ‘DIY’ wedding to save money?
At this time of all times, it seems that great numbers of us are going to considerable lengths to save money – and it can feel mentally exhausting at times to figure out what money-saving measures will truly ‘do the trick’, and which ones simply aren’t worth the time and hassle.
So, what about when you’re organising a wedding – a process that has always been notoriously stressful and expensive?
The great news is that if this is the situation for you right now, you will hardly be alone; plenty of people are planning Gibraltar weddings as you read this, and are carefully contemplating every aspect of their spending on their nuptials.
It has often been said that taking a DIY – ‘Do It Yourself’ – approach to planning a wedding could be a fine way to save money. But is that really the case?
To answer the question, we looked at some of the classic ways people try to save money through DIY methods when organising their Gibraltar weddings – and whether such approaches are generally worth the bother.
Improvising with the wedding centrepieces
Centrepieces will always be a, well, central aspect of one’s wedding décor, and depending on what you have lying around, you might find it a relatively easy process to ‘DIY’ at least some of your wedding centrepieces.
Simply perform a Google image search for ‘wedding centrepieces’ to start giving yourself some ideas. For instance, you might be able to make a centrepiece out of a stack of old books, or you could go to all manner of stores to pick up some cheap candles in lanterns. Or maybe you’re a ‘crafty’ type who can spare the time to rustle up some truly original centrepieces?
If you’re on a tight budget anyway, and therefore not in a position to spend hundreds of pounds on centrepieces, a ‘DIY’ approach here – as opposed to just grabbing a few things you like from Amazon – might not save you that much money. So, much might depend here on what items you already have to hand that can be used for centrepieces.
Making the wedding cake yourself
If we’re giving a cautious ‘yes’ answer to the suggestion of DIYing at least some of your centrepieces, what is our stance on baking your own wedding cake?
Our answer here is that you need to be really, really cautious. The wedding cake ranks alongside the wedding car and venue as one of the most visually memorable aspects of a wedding, and you really don’t want to have a wedding-cake disaster, such as a tiered cake collapsing on the day, or the cake simply being sunken and dry.
That’s without accounting for all the time and stress associated with trying to bake a cake yourself. So, although you might technically be able to save hundreds of pounds by baking your own wedding cake, unless you’re literally ‘could have been a Bake Off winner’ standard, the chances are that any cake you make yourself will also look hundreds of pounds worse than a professionally made one.
This is one element of your wedding, then, that probably doesn’t lend itself to a DIY approach, even if it does save you a chunk of money. And with the wedding cake able to be provided as an additional service with our wedding packages here at Sweet Gibraltar Weddings, it might be a much better choice to simply leave it to a trusted expert who can ensure your wedding cake is a crowd-pleaser in more ways than one.
Putting on your own wedding entertainment
Presumably, if you’re on a tight budget, you won’t be planning to hire a wedding band, given that the cost of one could easily run into the thousands (a good ‘rule of thumb’ is to presume the cost per musician in a band is likely to be around the £400 to £450 mark).
A DJ will probably be somewhat cheaper than a band, their services being priced at a few hundred, although if you really do want to go down the DIY route with your wedding music, putting together a Spotify playlist and playing that would set you back nothing (or £9.99 a month, to give the standard Spotify Premium price that means you won’t have to worry about adverts).
Entertainment is one of the lower-risk areas as far as wedding DIY is concerned, especially given that the cost of a wedding band or DJ would also be bumped up if they need to travel some distance to join you in Gibraltar.
As you can see, when it comes to Gibraltar weddings – or indeed, weddings held anywhere else – certain aspects of one’s nuptials are likely to be better suited than others to a ‘DIY’ approach. To discuss with our own team how we could help put together the affordable Gibraltar wedding you will love in every way, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
